Under current safety design guidelines, automotive vehicles are tested in a 50 MPH Perpendicular Side Impact Test. The test is intended to test fuel system integrity in a side impact collision.
In one fuel tank design for a diesel fuel vehicle, the fuel tank defines a U-shaped pocket that partially encompasses a diesel fuel filter. The pocket has an open side that faces a frame rail and has a two side walls that extend laterally inward from an outer wall of the fuel tank to a recessed wall. The fuel filter is attached to the recessed wall. The sidewalls extend laterally beyond the fuel filter.
With the above design, the vehicle was tested in the 50 MPH Perpendicular Side Impact Test and resulted in the frame rail deforming the fuel tank and contacting the fuel filter. Several approaches were evaluated to improve the test results including increasing the gauge of the fuel tank material and building a structural reinforcement around the fuel tank. However, neither approach was feasible from the standpoint of manufacturing or packaging the fuel tank within the vehicle. Another approach was to weld a reinforcement patch within the U-shaped pocket around the fuel filter but this approach also proved to be unsatisfactory.
This disclosure is directed to the problem of reducing the deformation of the fuel tank and mitigating the fuel filter contact by the frame rail in the 50 MPH Perpendicular Side Impact Test. This disclosure also addresses other problems as summarized below.